Principal Investigator(s):United States Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics

Summary:

This data collection presents second follow-up data for the
NATIONAL EDUCATION LONGITUDINAL STUDY, 1988 (ICPSR 9389). The base-year
study, which collected information from student surveys and tests and
from surveys of parents, school administrators, and teachers, was
designed to provide trend data about critical transitions experienced
by students as they leave elementary school and progress through high
school and postsecondary institutions or the work force. The first
follow-up, ... (more info)

This data collection presents second follow-up data for the
NATIONAL EDUCATION LONGITUDINAL STUDY, 1988 (ICPSR 9389). The base-year
study, which collected information from student surveys and tests and
from surveys of parents, school administrators, and teachers, was
designed to provide trend data about critical transitions experienced
by students as they leave elementary school and progress through high
school and postsecondary institutions or the work force. The first
follow-up, NATIONAL EDUCATION LONGITUDINAL STUDY, 1988: FIRST FOLLOW-UP
(1990) (ICPSR 9859), provided the first opportunity for longitudinal
measurement of the 1988 baseline samples. It also provided a point of
comparison with high school sophomores from ten years before, as
studied in HIGH SCHOOL AND BEYOND, 1980: A LONGITUDINAL SURVEY OF
STUDENTS IN THE UNITED STATES (ICPSR 7896). Further, the study captured
the population of early dropouts (those who leave school prior to the
end of the tenth grade), while monitoring the transition of the student
population into secondary schooling. The second follow-up provides a
cumulative measurement of learning in the course of secondary school,
and also supplies information that will facilitate investigation of the
transition into the labor force and postsecondary education after high
school. The 1992 student component collected basic background
information about students' school and home environments, participation
in classes and extracurricular activities, current jobs, and their
goals, aspirations, and opinions about themselves. The student
component also gathered data about the family decision-making structure
during the critical transition from secondary school to postsecondary
education or the work environment. The 1992 school component solicited
general descriptive information about the educational setting and
environment in which surveyed students were enrolled. These data, which
were collected from the chief administrator of each base-year school
with sample members still in attendance, cover school, student, and
teacher characteristics, school politics and programs, and school
governance and climate. The 1992 teacher component was administered to
teachers of second follow-up students in one of two basic subject
areas: mathematics or science. The questionnaire elicited teacher
evaluations of student characteristics and performance in the
classroom, curriculum information about the classes taught, teacher
demographic and professional characteristics, information about
parent-teacher interactions, time spent on various tasks, and
perceptions of school climate and culture. The dropout component
provides data on the process of dropping out of school as it occurs
from eighth grade on. Variables include school attendance, determinants
of leaving school, self-perceptions and attitudes, work history, and
relationships with school personnel, peers, and family. The parent
component provides information about the factors that influence
educational attainment and participation, including family background,
socioeconomic conditions, and character of the home educational system.
This component was present in the base-year survey but not in the first
follow-up.

Study Description

Citation

U.S. Dept. of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. National Education Longitudinal Study, 1988: Second Follow-Up (1992). ICPSR06448-v1. U.S. Dept. of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement [producer], 1994. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium Political and Social Research [distributor], 1995-03-16. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR06448.v1

Universe:
All twelfth-grade students in the United States during the
1991-1992 school year.

Data Types:
survey data, and event/transaction data

Data Collection Notes:

Due to maximum variable restrictions of the SPSS
software package, the student data are provided in two parts with
differing record lengths. Separate SPSS and SAS data definition
statements are provided for each.

Methodology

Sample:
Two-stage sampling involving the selection of a core group
of students who were in the tenth-grade sample in 1990 distributed
across 1,500 schools. In order for this to be a valid probability
sample of all students currently enrolled in the twelfth grade in the
1991-1992 school year, the sample was "freshened" with students who
were twelfth-graders in 1992 but who were not in the tenth grade during
the 1989-1990 school year. First follow-up students who had dropped out
of school between 1990 and 1992 were subsampled with certainty.